Apostles and the Apostolate

in the New Testament

Robert Duncan Culver

A number of currents of thought in contemporary church life

invite fresh attention to the precise nature and purpose of the New
Testament apostolate. Some Roman Catholics and "charismatics"
are presenting new ideas about revelation. In this age of lawless
ness, persons in many denominations and sects are raising questions
about ecclesiastical authority. Others have misconceptions about
"the signs of an apostle." In addition, there is the growing habit of
referring to certain foreign missionaries or strong religious leaders
as apostles apparently intended literally rather than metaphor
ically.
The word apostle is a loan word from Greek by way of Latin.
As with the word baptize, another such loan word, the reader of
the Bible must decide what it means from the way it is used. The
bare elements of the Greek word mean "one sent forth."
The root meaning of the word, however, does not indicate how,
when, by whom, nor for what purpose he is to be sent.

LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND

New Testament use alone is decisive for the meaning of an

apostle and for the theological significance of the apostolate. This
is true of many important theological terms of Scripture but pecu
liarly true of this one. Though the word was already old, and there
is a near-equivalent Hebrew word used in the Old Testament and
in Rabbinical literature, the New Testament use is unprecedented.
131
132 / Bbliotheca Sacra April-June 1977
BACKGROUND IN GREEK USAGE
The word apostle () in the older Greek literature
was a special maritime term or military term. A dispatched fleet
was known collectively as "the apostle." The same was true of a
military expedition. Such an "apostle" was utterly impersonal, with
out responsibility as such; it simply had the quality of being sent
away. In the Greek world, never became a term for a
personal emissary or representative. "Thus its later Christian usage
was an innovation to Greek ears or to those familiar with Greek." 1
In Greek culture, religious messengers were called by other names,
some of which are used in the Greek New Testament and are
translated by such words as angel, messenger, preacher, etc.
Ordinarily in the case of important terms in the New Testament,
the Septuagint shows that those Greek words already had a biblical
usage before the New Testament authors employed them. Righ
teousness, for example, in the Greek New Testament is .
This word is widely used in the Septuagint and is almost always
the rendering of TT2 and its cognates. So all the Old Testament
uses of T7X bear directly on the meaning of the New Testament
word.
But such is not the case with apostle. There is a word in
Hebrew (^) which means about what apostle means but it is
not rendered apostle by the Septuagint, except for one case, which
hardly furnishes a precedent (1 Kings 14:6). The writings of Philo
and Josephus, usually helpful, furnish no aid either.

BACKGROUND IN JEWISH USAGE

The Christian usage, however, does seem to have some con
nection with a Jewish legal custom and name thereof with roots in
the Old Testament. The Hebrew verb for "sending an authorized
messenger" is (2 Chron. 17:7). The simple passive participle
of this verb is used of authorized messengers. This word m*?tP (1
Kings 14:6), though apparently not attaining technical status in the
Old Testament or in postbiblical Judaism (and perhaps earlier 2 ) does
seem to attain that status in the form sometimes modified to IV*?tP.
As such, it is a legal term, not a religious term. Insofar as there is
a background for apostle in Jewish or Hebrew words and uses it is

1 Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel and

Gerhard Friedrich, trans, and ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, s.v. ","
by Karl Heinrich Rengstorf, 1 ( 1 9 6 4 ) : 408.
2 Ibid., p. 414, footnote 56.
 Apostles and the Apostolate in the New Testament / 133
the ^. This word and usage appears sometimes, with modifica
tions from Aramaic, in the Rabbinical literature. The Rabbis said
of a rr*W "the one sent by a man is as the man himself," i.e., the
sent person is a minister plenipotentiary for the one who sent him. 3
The idea has deep roots in the Old Testament. When David's ser
vants said to Abigail, "David sent ( n*?tP) us to thee to take thee
to wife," she prostrated herself to them and in every respect treated
them as if they were David himself (1 Sam. 25:40-41). Later when
David sent (n*?tt0 his servants to commiserate Hanun, king of
Ammon, and those servants were insulted and shamefully treated
by that hapless king, David went to war with Ammon, showing
that such an insult to the persons of the messengers was an insult
to the king himself and his country. The apostolate and Jesus'
words to His apostles come immediately to mind: "He that re-
ceiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him
that sent Me" (Matt. 10:40).
This office is frequently mentioned by name for official repre
sentatives of various groups, communities, and official bodies of
Judaism in the early centuries of the Christian era and earlier.
Authorities furnish many examples.4 Apparently Saul of Tarsus
was functioning as a ^ for the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem
when he met Christ on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-2).
It is this word and its Jewish precedents, not the Greek use of
, which furnishes the true source insofar as a source
may be sought for Jesus' innovation of the apostolate. Further
support for this assertion is seen in the fact that the Aramaic trans-
lation of the Bible (the Syriac Peshitta) uses this very word ^
to translate in the New Testament and for "he that is
sent" (John 13:16).
In all Jewish use the central idea is official delegatedness. The
^ is not a preacher, as such, or missionary, or herald (though
these may be true of him). His capacity is that of one empowered
by a sending party or group to act with full authority for the sender.
Hence prophets of the Old Testament were not, as such, DTP^W.
Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel are sometimes called DTT^tP,
however, because they performed actions ordinarily reserved for
God alone (e.g., causing water to flow out of a rock, causing rain,
raising the dead, etc.). 5
3 Talmud, Berakoth, 5.
4 Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. " ," 1 (1964):
420-24.
5 Ibid., p. 419.
134 / Bibliotheca Sacra April-June 1977
N E W TESTAMENT OCCURRENCE OF Apostle

Apostle appears seventy-nine times in the New Testament

times in Luke's writings; thirty-four times in Paul's; only once
each in Matthew, Mark, and John (though not in the usual sense
in John 13:16), Hebrews, 1 Peter, and Jude; twice in 2 Peter; and
three times in Revelation. Over eighty-six percent of the occurrences
are in the writings of Paul and of his companion, Luke.
In all these occurrences the word always designates a man
sent with plenipotentiary authority. This is clarified in the only
three texts where in the Authorized Version the word is translated
rather than transliterated: "he that is sent" (John 13:16), "mes
sengers of the churches" (2 Cor. 8:23); "your messenger" (Phil.
2:25). The apostle may be commissioned by Christ and this is
the normal sense or he may be a person commissioned by a
congregation, in which case he is the church's apostle, not as such
Christ's apostle (2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25).

THE APOSTOLATE IN THE N E W TESTAMENT

THE ORIGIN OF JESUS' APOSTOLATE OF TWELVE

The first known followers of Jesus came from John's disciples,
as seen in the first chapter of John. Several of the followers known
as the twelve apostles were with Him during His first year of
ministry (largely in obscurity) in Judea, but they must have spent
time in Galilee too, for there is no reason to believe they were yet
instructed to leave their customary occupations. Early, however, in
His second year of ministry, mainly in Galilee, "He called them
to give up their ordinary employments and be with Him constantly.
And probably not many weeks afterwards, He promoted them to
the third and final stage of nearness to Himself, by ordaining them
6
to be apostles." (See Mark 3:13-19; Matthew 10:1; Luke 9:1-10;
cf. 6:13-16, esp. v. 13).
The initiative in becoming a disciple came partly from the
men who became disciples and there were multitudes of them.
There were other Jewish teachers who had disciples (,
"learner, follower"). The initiative for becoming Jesus' apostle,
however, came entirely from the Master Himself: "He called unto
Him His disciples; and of them He chose twelve, whom also He
named apostles" (Luke 6:13; cf. John 15:16).
6 James Stalker, The Life of Christ, 29th ed. (New York: Fleming H.
RevellCo., 1949), p. 77.
 Apostles and the Apostolate in the New Testament / 135
The initial purposes of Jesus in constituting twelve of His
disciples apostles was threefold: "that they should be with Him,
and that He might send them forth to preach, and to have power
to heal sicknesses and to cast out devils" (Mark 3:14-15). That
Jesus called them from the first with a view to instructing them
fully as founders of the church in the period after His ascension
can hardly be doubted (cf. Matt. 28:19-20). The second purpose
was to have them serve as His accredited representatives in an-
nouncing the presence of the Messiah-King and His kingdom (Matt.
10; Luke 9:2). In a sense this purpose of the apostolate ended
when a few days later they returned and reported the mission
accomplished. The third purpose to have miraculous powers
was similar to the Lord's purpose in using those powers, viz., to
provide credentials as divinely certified heralds of the arrived king-
dom (cf. Matt. 10:2 with 11:1-6). Whether this apostolate did
indeed come to an end with the completion of this initial mission
is a moot question. The Twelve certainly failed in later efforts to
provide the "signs of an apostle" (Matt. 7:14-17; cf. 2 Cor. 12:12;
Rom. 15:19; 1 Thess. 1:5). They also forsook their Lord (Matt.
26:56). There was indeed a later renewal of the endowment of
power. Yet the discourses of Jesus with the Twelve, especially the
Upper Room Discourse of John 13-18, do clearly imply that their
Lord was addressing the Twelve as accredited plenipotentiaries for
an age about to begin at Pentecost, however sad their temporary
lapse may have been. Further, the several promises and charges
given by Jesus to the apostles during their years with Him compel
one to believe that from the moment of their first commission Jesus
constituted them the first chronologically in the church to be
founded. Likewise, as the "founders" of the church, they were its
first teachers (Matt. 16:18-19; cf. John 20:19-23; Eph. 2:20; see
also Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:28-30).

THE CONFIRMATION OF THE APOSTOLATE OF

TWELVE AFTER JESUS' RESURRECTION
The risen Christ consorted with His disciples for forty days
after the Resurrection, giving the Twelve (reduced by one through
the defection of Judas) renewal of their commission. The Twelve,
scattered after they left the Upper Room, then reassembled. Then
over a period of forty days they witnessed several Resurrection
appearances of Jesus. At these appearances the Lord renewed their
commission as His apostles (Matt. 28:16-20; Luke 24:33-49; Acts
136 / Bibliotheca Sacra April-June 1977
1:8). With the commission, they received orders to remain together
at Jerusalem until endued with the promised Holy Spirit (Luke
24:46; Acts 1:4-8). It was by this renewal of commission that
the Eleven became definitively constituted as Christ's apostles
(7=0,,?). Thereby they also became the first mission
aries of Christianity to the world, but unique among Christian
missionaries in that only apostles could be Christ's ministers pleni
potentiary in the critical matters connected with the foundation of
the church.

ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF THE APOSTOLATE

An examination of the New Testament yields six essential
features of the apostolate some of which appear as qualifications,
and some of which appear also as privileges.
An apostle of Messiah (Christ) must be of Messiah's nation,
i.e., a Jew. Messiah's mission was first to the "lost sheep of the
house of Israel" (Matt. 10:6). In their first mission they were
ordered neither to go nor to preach to any others than Jews. Their
Lord amply illustrated this limitation from the very first of His
public ministry to its very end. Also these men were to become
organs for delivery of divine oracles. According to the law of
Deuteronomy 18:9, confirmed by Paul (Rom. 3:1-2; cf. Matt.
10:1-5), the oracles of God are given to the Jews. Divine mes
sengers to Hebrew people will in every case be Hebrew people.
This has at least some bearing (if not a decisive bearing) on the
question of apostolic succession and the possibility of apostles in
the church today.
An apostle must have received a call and commission to his
office directly from Christ. The nature of the office minister
plenipotentiary required it; the precedent set by the Master
(Luke 6:13) demonstrated it; and the case of Paul, as he elabo
rately argues in 2 Corinthians and the first part of Galatians (esp.
Gal. 1:1), confirms it. The choice of Matthias by the lot (Acts
1:24-26) conforms to it (see Prov. 16:33) and, though somewhat
irregular, is no exception.
An apostle must have seen the Lord Jesus, being an eyewitness
of His doings and an ear-witness of His sayings. If they were to be
founding witnesses (i.e., founders of the church), this was essential.
This is why early in His ministry, Jesus invited twelve men (among
others) to follow Him and some months later commissioned the
Twelve as apostles, insisting on their being constantly with Him
 Apostles and the Apostolate in the New Testament / 137
(John 15:27; cf. Luke 22:28). The requirement is spelled out in
the case of Matthias (Acts 1:21-22). By personal observation of
the events of redemption they were able to testify to them, and as
Jesus said, one of the purposes of their later special enduement with
power from the Holy Spirit was to enable them to remember
infallibly what they had heard Jesus say (John 14:28; 15:26-27;
16:13-15). Paul was at special pains to let it be known that he met
this requirement as an apostle (1 Cor. 9 : 1 ; 15:8; Acts 22:6-21).
An apostle must possess authority in communicating divine
revelation, and what he wrote under divine inspiration was indeed
t(
the voice of God/' A reading of Deuteronomy 18:9 shows how
this gift is related to Old Testament Scripture. New Testament
passages which declare this are 1 Corinthians 2:10 and Galatians
1:11-12. Apostles were thus enabled to give in the New Testament
Scriptures the true sense of the Old Testament (Luke 24:27; Acts
26:22-23; 28:23) veiled from the Jewish nation then as now
(Rom. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:11-18; 1 Thess. 2:14-16), and to set forth
the revelation of the New Testament as an inerrant standard for
the new dispensation (1 Pet. 1:25; 1 John 4:6; John 14:26; 1
Thess. 2:13). Accordingly, later generations of believers and
believers to the present hour have regarded apostolicity of some
degree as an undoubted, essential quality of New Testament
Scripture.
An apostle is required to furnish <(the signs of an apostle"
These consist of power at some critical juncture to perform un-
doubted miracles (cf. Acts 4:16). Deuteronomy 18:9 and 13:1
furnish the Old Testament background. The Gospels consistently
show that Jesus' human nature was enabled to be the palpable
vehicle of such miracles by the special bestowal of the Holy Spirit
(Matt. 3 : 1 6 - 4 : 2 5 and parallels) and the same was to be true
of the apostles after their post-Resurrection recommissioning by
Christ (Acts 1:8; cf. Mark 16:14, 19-20). The apostles performed
such acts (Acts 2:43; 5:12). Furthermore, there is reason to
believe that only they and they to whom they conveyed such powers
performed miraculous acts in the early church (1 Cor. 12:8-11,
28), and that when the Word had been thus confirmed the mir-
acles ceased (Heb. 2:1-4). As in the Old Testament epoch God
furnished signs for His accredited messengers, so He furnished
"signs of an apostle" (2 Cor. 12:12; cf. Pss. 74:9; 105:27-28).
These signs were God's means of "bearing witness with them"
(Heb. 2:4).
138 / Biblioteca Sacra April-June 1977
The several Gospel reports of how Jesus rebuked the demands
for miracles demands made by shallow-thinking crowds of thrill-
seekers or of debauched kings cannot do away with the eviden-
tial and certifying function of New Testament miracles. Neither do
the remarks of Paul near the end of 2 Corinthians regarding the
perverse reasonings of the Christian citizens of Corinth regarding
his ministry do away with this function of miracles. The miracles
were not for edification of the believers primarily, and neither Jesus
nor Paul says so. The believers of today do not need them for
edification and should not ask for miracles for such reasons. Faith
has another method.
An apostle must possess plenary authority among all the
churches. In this he differed from the holders of other New Testa-
ment ecclesiastical office, for in the New Testament, bishops (or
elders) and deacons wielded only local-church authority and had
only local function. But Peter could judge an Ananias or Sapphira
by personal authority (Acts 5:1-11), not church authority. Paul
asserted a personal responsibility for "all the churches" (2 Cor.
11:28), and in distant Philippi, Paul could judge concerning a
matter of moral discipline in a congregation at Corinth (1 Cor.
5:3). Apostles could and did write most of the epistles of the New
Testament canon, giving commands to churches far away, claiming
inerrant divine authority for themselves and even for one another
(1 Cor. 14:37; cf. 2 Pet. 3:16). They had power to furnish faith
and order as a model for all future generations, and to exercise
discipline over all disorderly Christians (2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10).

ALLEGED PERPETUAL APOSTOLATE AND SUCCESSION

A considerable segment of Christendom claims two further

essential qualities of the apostolate perpetuity and power of
succession. But perpetuity is inconsistent with the very nature of
the work of the apostles. Furthermore, there could not be succes-
sors displaying the above particular set of qualifications, since many
of the qualifications are essentially supernatural in character and
some are historically impossible for others besides the contempo-
raries of Jesus. Also the New Testament texts cited to "prove"
apostolic succession and papal primacy simply do not support
either one.
That the bishops of episcopally governed churches are true
apostles in lineal succession through successive passing down of
the office by laying on of the hands of ordination is held in dogmatic
 Apostles and the Apostolate in the New Testament / 139
form by the R o m a n Catholic Church being set forth strongly not
only in the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent but also by
several relatively mild post-Vatican II publications. 7 T h e R o m a n
Catholic Church claims to be the only church with true apostolic
authority and therefore the only church with a valid ministry. 8 Similar
claims, though less formally made, are asserted by Anglican High-
Churchmen, by Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Syrian, Coptic, and
other Oriental churches deriving from Christian antiquity.
F o r evidence of their claim to apostolicity, R o m a n authorities
cite ( 1 ) the choice of Matthias, ( 2 ) reference to apostles other
than the Eleven and Paul, ( 3 ) Jesus' statement about the apostolic
mission (Matt. 1 0 : 1 4 ) , and ( 4 ) His words to Peter about his
having the keys (Matt. 1 6 : 1 8 - 1 9 ) . A recent article in an important
R o m a n Catholic dictionary of biblical theology summarizes the
position and the arguments for it:

During Jesus' public activity a portion of the disciples was, at

appointed times, commissioned to represent Messiah. Likewise the
extensive preparation of the disciples for their apostolic office, as
particularly defined promises (cf. Mt 16:19; 18:18) makes it clear,
that with this short apostolic function [their first preaching mis-
sion?] not all could be realized which Jesus had intended. After his
departure Jesus would not leave his flock behind shepherdless (cf.
Mt 9:36; Jn 21:15-17); therefore he promised his disciples the trans-
mission of power of binding and loosing. Their decrees in the
church will be the decisions of the risen Lord (Mt 16:18; 18:18).
The transmission of this power, limited neither by time nor space,
followed through the resurrection (Mt 28:18ff.). Now is Jesus no
more sent only to the lost sheep; therefore, he entrusted also the
full power of all the peoples to the pastoral care of his fully em-
powered representatives. These representatives of the good Shep-
herd were employed at the beginning till the end of the time when
the Lord comes again [Mt 10:24?]. It is thereby made necessary
that the full power of Christ-representation also be transmitted
through the entire history of the church. Or should the certainty
of sins forgiveness be established only for the first generation of
the church? Jesus conveyed this divine power which had so amazed
the Jews (cf. Mt 9:8) to his apostles (Jn 20:21ff.), whereby this
gift of grace, even after the day of his ascension to heaven, should
remain in the world till his second Advent.

7 Such as A New Catechism (New York: Herder & Herder, 1967), pp. 358,
362.
8 Recently, however, the possibility that certain other "Catholic" bodies
may have apostolic succession has been acknowledged (The Documents of
Vatican II [New York: Guild Press, 1966], p. 359).
140 / Biblotheca Sacra April-June 1977
John 21:15-17 signifies, finally (as also previously Mt 16:18f.)
the special position of Peter as first among the fully commissioned.
Thereby [i.e., in the Roman papacy] Christ created a principle of
regulation and gave the apostolic company an inner structure. The
large number of the apostles [all the bishops in every generation]
necessitated quite certainly essential arrangement [or order] and
subordination.9
The reader is directed to the article "Succession, Apostolical" in
McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia 10 for a valuable refutation of
this claim. Suffice it to say here that (1) none of the Scriptures
cited above in the distinguished Roman Catholic work really sup-
port the claim, (2) no one after the Apostolic Age has truly seen
the Lord, and (3) no one has the signs of an apostle specifically
to confer supernatural powers by the laying on of hands. Super-
natural "sign gifts" were prevalent in that first generation, but none
except apostles had the power to pass the sign gifts along to others.

PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS

Beyond the essentials of the apostolate treated above, some

subordinate topics merit brief attention: the question of Peter's
special place, if any, among the Twelve; the extraordinary aposto-
late of Paul; the relationship of apostles to prophets; the question
of a possible general but less strict employment of the term apostle
for a certain class of Christian missionaries.
The extraordinary pronouncement of the Master on Peter
after the latter's great confession (Matt. 16:16-19), though variously
interpreted, does seem clearly to make Peter stand out among the
apostles in the founding of the church. However, after Jesus' resur-
rection, He did extend some of the features of that pronouncement
to all the Eleven, perhaps to all the "disciples" (John 20:21-23;
cf. v. 19). Whatever was distinctive to Peter, in the Lord's mind,
appears to have been fulfilled in the prominence of Peter's leader-
ship in the first twelve chapters of Acts, especially his distinct work
of officially opening the door of entrance to the church progres-
sively, first to the Jewish nation who had rejected the Savior (Acts
2:14-47; esp. v. 41), then to the mixed Jew-Gentile Samaritans
(Acts 8:14-17), and then auspiciously to Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48;
9 Bibeltheologisches Woerterbuch, ed. Johannes B. Bauer, s.v. "Apostel," 1
(1959): 65-66 (translation by author).
10 "Succession, Apostolical," Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and
Ecclesiastical Literature, ed. John McClintock and James Strong, 12 vols.
(1881; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1970), 10:5-7.
 Apostles and the Apostolate in the New Testament / 141
esp. v. 44). Peter himself seems so to have interpreted the Lord's
famous pronouncement on him (Acts 15:6-9; esp. v. 7 ) . The
supernatural sign gifts were closely connected with apostolic min-
istry in all the above passages.
The extraordinary apostolate of Paul has already been men-
tioned. Though he did not company with the Savior from the
beginning of His ministry, as had the others, Paul met all the qual-
ifications of an apostle and did so by the risen Lord's special
grace. It is to be emphasized that Paul regarded none of this
experience as "vision" or "in the spirit." It was all sober space-time
reality. The testimonies to the Damascus Road incident in Acts are
indefinite about some aspects of the experience, but they are clear
that it was an event in the space-time world. Not only was Paul,
the chief subject of the occasion, aware, but all those present sensed
that something unusual was going on (Acts 9:6; 22:9; 26:12-14).
Some of the pertinent passages are 1 Corinthians 15:9-10; Gala-
tians 1:13, 23; Philippians 3:7-8, along with Paul's numerous
epistolary salutations such as Romans 1:1 ; 1 Corinthians 1:1 ; etc.
(also see Rom. 15:19; 1 Cor. 3:5; 14:1-2, 37; 2 Cor. 5:20; 6 : 1 ;
12:1-2, 12; 1 Thess. 1:5). Articles on Paul in reliable biblical and
theological dictionaries and encyclopedias as well as numerous
monographs on Paul and the commentaries support this assertion.
The relationship of apostles to prophets is largely a matter of
interpreting certain passages, mainly in Ephesians, which speak of
"apostles and prophets" always in that order. These passages
are Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11. In the last of these texts "prophets"
appears after "apostles" and before "evangelists" and "pastor-
teachers." One would be bold indeed to understand "prophets" as
designating Elijah and Jeremiah rather than, say, Mark and Luke.
To these Ephesian passages may be added Revelation 18:20.
If one comes to these texts, as many do, with the assumption
that the church is a continuation of Israel, then his interpretation
reverses the order and he finds Old Testament prophets and New
Testament apostles to be specified. Then our Lord's reference to
twelve apostles ruling the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28;
Luke 22:30) falls into line as predicting their prominence in the
church, said to be the "new Israel" (an expression, however, which
is never found in the New Testament). But "prophets" in Ephesians
4:11 clearly seems to designate New Testament prophets, not
Old Testament prophets, for in Ephesians the church is promi-
nently in view. Those prophets of Ephesians 4:11 shared in a lesser
142 / Bibliotheca Sacra April-June 1977
way one of the functions of the apostles, that of being instruments
of divine revelation. Some of those prophets (and the matter is
common in the New Testament) not only spoke inspired words but
wrote Scripture. The names of some of them are known, e.g., Mark
and Luke. Perhaps such a prophet wrote Hebrews. (See Romans
16:26, "the scriptures of the prophets.")
Roman Catholic authors and other advocates of a continuing
apostolate seek to find an extension of the office to numerous
individuals mentioned on the pages of the New Testament. Other
more disinterested writers are puzzled by the passages involved but
come to different conclusions. Were there, indeed, apostles other
than the twelve original ones plus Matthias and Paul? Is there a
"lesser sense" in which a class of prominent persons engaged in
missionary work, then and now, may be called "apostles"? This
writer thinks not. A better way may be followed in interpreting and
employing the New Testament data offered.
Reference has already been made to the fact that persons
commissioned to act as ministers plenipotentiary for congregations,
in the manner of the Jewish ^ were called by the word apostle
(), though often translated "messenger" (2 Cor. 8:23;
Phil. 2:25). Attention has also been called to the fact that once
Jesus used apostle in the sense of "he that is sent" without direct
reference to the Twelve (John 13:16). This seems to furnish an
explanation of Acts 14:14, in which Luke refers to "the apostles,
Barnabas and Paul," thereby directing attention to their commis
sioning as apostles (i.e., authorized messengers) of the Antioch
church (Acts 13:2). The connection seems unmistakable. Romans
16:7 states that Andronicus and Junia, Paul's "kinsmen" are "of
note among the apostles," but this does by no means necessarily
affirm that these two obscure persons were apostles of Christ in
any special sense. First Corinthians 9:8 shows that the Lord's
brothers (presumably Jude and James?) were prominent persons
but fails to state that they were apostles.
The same can be said of 1 Corinthians 15:7, which likewise
falls short of clearly affirming James to be an apostle, though it
is quite capable of being understood in that way. The passage shows
that James held a position of leadership as prominent as that of an
apostle. Galatians 1:19 seems to say that James the Lord's brother
was an apostle. He is thought by some to be none other than
"James the Less," though this seems unlikely since Jesus' brothers
appear to have rejected Him until after His resurrection. However,
 Apostles and the Apostolate in the New Testament / 143
James could have been, like Paul, an apostle "born out of due
season."11 There is thus no strong evidence that any New Testa-
ment persons except the original Twelve, Matthias, Paul, and
possibly James the Lord's brother, were ever esteemed in New
Testament times to be apostles of Jesus Christ. Thus the so-called
"lesser sense" of apostleship cannot be defended successfully.

11 Dean Alford's discussion is satisfying. See his comments on Matthew

10:3; 13:55; John 7:5, and Galatians 1:19 and his "Introduction to the
Epistle of James" in The New Testament for English Readers (Chicago:
Moody Press, n.d.). Some remarks by John J. Gnther ("The Family
of Jesus," The Evangelical Quarterly 46 [JanuaryMarch 1974]: 25-41), are
very helpful on this subject.
 ^ s
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